The herd came over while I worked. I tried to entice Baby to come inside the corral but I had another heifer and steer who wanted to come in first. While waiting for Baby to make up her mind one of Dan's Hereford heifers ran into the side of Baby pushing her away. Another time then.
Once they drank from the water trough they headed out to eat. Baby joined them and occasionally stopped and bellowed. After a bit she went over to the gate to the pasture which was now closed.
An hour or so later the herd came back to the water trough. Baby stood near the gate to the corral and I opened it for her and she came in the corral looking for a boy.
*whew*
Baby did a lot of bellowing when she didn't find a boy. She was restless but manageable inside the corral.
The herd took a siesta for a few hours. Once they got up and started to wander off Baby got more and more agitated. She quickly paced the fence looking for any way out. She ran back and forth along the fence pushing against the chain link fencing even though I had three strands of barb wire running along the inside of the chain link fence. She looked at the bottom of the fence for any way under the fence. I had pushed the red feeder in front of the gate and she tried to climb into the feeder to reach the gate.
She got more and more agitated and I was afraid she would try to jump over the fence and either get out of the corral or get hurt. So I herded her into the loading corral which is easier said than done as she didn't want to move away from sight of the herd.
In the loading corral she went into overdrive. She circled the corral over and over looking for a way out. I think she stuck her head through every opening in the fence and through the gate multiple times. She bellowed and bellowed.
Over and over all afternoon and into the evening. By evening she settled down at times to rest. I would check on her as if I didn't hear a commotion I was afraid she somehow got out. I am really glad I finished the loading corral rebuild this Spring as it kept her inside in a safe manner.
Of course with all the commotion the horses just had to be in the corral instead of eating out in the pasture. When I got Baby into the corral and later moved her into the loading corral each time I had first to get the horses out of the corral. Anything to make more work for me.
When I first put Baby in the corral south of the barn where the main water trough sits I had to get and fill another water trough for the horses. Now that Baby was in the loading corral I had to drain that secondary water trough and move it into the corral and then refill it by carrying water to it in five gallon pails as my garden hose didn't reach that far.
I also got an old bathtub and filled it with hay to supplement the grass in the loading corral. I placed the tub along the fence to break up Baby's pacing. It didn't work. She walked right through the tub of hay in her rounds of the fence.
I found another disadvantage to having the tub next to the fence. The next morning I caught the fat white horse with her head through the loading corral fence and she was eating the hay out of the tub.
Argh!
I moved the tub away from the fence and refilled it with hay.
Dan, whose brother is undergoing emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery, returned my call as to how long cattle are actually in heat. Dan recommended I keep Baby locked up two and a half days to be on the safe side.
Baby was not happy about this.
This afternoon, two and a quarter days later, I let Baby out of the loading corral. She quickly ran to join the herd across the hayfield. Later I saw her fighting with Dan's Hereford heifer. Baby put up a good fight but had to give up as the heifer is much larger than Baby and was able to push Baby backwards repeatedly. I don't know what the Hereford's problem with Baby is, but she gave Baby a hard time for quite a while after Baby rejoined the herd. Maybe the Hereford was unhappy with losing pasture and river privileges due to Baby's behavior.
Baby has calmed down. Now that she rejoined the herd she is not bellowing anymore or looking off in the distance for a boy or roaming the fence line. She is just happy to be back with her herd and the hayfield grass.
I am happy too as in the loading corral she didn't seem to be eating or drinking much and was stressed and losing weight.
Will I have a repeat of Baby's crazy behavior in 21 days when she goes into heat again?
Here is a 1 minute video of Baby before and after she was put in the corral. The first several and the last segments go by quick as I didn't have much time to video her.
Segment 1: Baby in the middle pasture running towards the river.
Segment 2: Swimming back to the pasture after her failed attempt to cross the river.
Segment 3: In the corral starting to get agitated.
Segment 4: Getting me upset with her constant pushing on the corral fence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQai2r3kKFA
Here is a 1 minute 26 second video of Baby's release from the loading corral and her rejoining the herd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJIol5_mZ6w
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